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Faithless Now Petition Targets Republicans On 2016 Electoral College Map By County And State To Be Faithless Electors

By Christine Beswick
Published on: 07:01 PST, Nov 13, 2016

For the first time in American history, millions in the American public are asking the electoral college to change the results of election night. It is a wave that has been trending for days, escalating after it was revealed that Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton won the popular by over 2 million votes, and Donald Trump won the electoral college vote, making him the President-elect. Democrats have been calling for faithless electors to take action, and now Republicans are asking for faithless electors to also come forward reports Fox News with a new Faithless Now petition specifically targeted at Republican electors, asking them to become faithless electors this election cycle.

Donald Trump won the 2016 electoral map by county and state for this election, but many Americans, Republicans and Democrats alike, are not happy with this outcome, as he lost the popular vote by millions, and millions more absentee ballots have yet to come in.

The Inquisitr previously reported that there is one legal electoral college scenario that theoretically could still put Hillary Clinton, or any other politician theoretically, in the White House. When America votes on election day, they vote for their electoral college member to vote for the president on December 19. Many state electors are required to vote for the popular vote in their state when the electoral college meets, but many are not required.

To change a vote that was determined by the popular vote in the state is called becoming a faithless elector. In some states, electors are reportedly bound to the popular vote and could experience penalties by not voting with the state popular vote. But, Heavy reports, fines are the only penalty known to date that a faithless elector would experience in the event of a faithless elector going against the popular votes from the 2016 electoral college map by county or state.

A Change.org petition was created last week, beseeching the electors in the Electoral College to become faithless electors and vote Hillary Clinton, and has amassed 3.9 million signatures at the time of press. In a separate report by the Inquisitr, Lady Gaga has come forward urging people to sign the petition.

Fox News reports that another petition has been created, called the Faithless Now, and is targeting electors in Republican states to change their vote when it comes time to decide who will be President at the electoral college on December 19.

The difference between the Faithless Now petition and the Change.org petition, is that Faithless Now is targeting Republican electors to become a faithless elector by choosing another Republican, instead of choosing Hillary Clinton. The existence of the Faithless Now petition thus reveals that both Republicans and Democrats alike want the electoral college to change the outcome of election night that made Donald Trump President-elect.

It is the first time this has happened in American history, that Americans from both sides of the aisle are revolting against a President-elect with such tenacity. There has also been a lot of impeachment talk about Donald Trump, before he has even taken the oath of office, and he would be the first president to take an oath of office with open fraud and racketeering trials, that some legal eagles consider to be impeachable offenses, as the Inquisitr reported today.

If the electoral college does amass a group of faithless electors on December 19, that would also be a historical first. However, that America is even talking about it at all, by the millions, is an astoundingly unprecedented turn of events in an already historical election cycle, making this trend a historical first in and of itself.

Fox News reports that the final tally for Hillary Clinton was that 60.47 percent of Americans voted for the Democratic candidate. The electoral college system was reportedly developed by the founders on the basis that the college could correct the mistakes of the voters, if they voted someone in that was not qualified, but that the corrections would have to be made based on the popular vote.

Alternatively, any elector that wanted to become a faithless elector, could vote for someone else that was not even on the ticket. This is the premise of the Faithless Now petition.

Fox reports that Donald Trump won 290 electoral college votes of the electoral map by county and state votes for 2016. Politico reports that Hillary Clinton received 228 electoral college votes. This means she would need 42 faithless electors to vote for her on December 19 to get the White House.

It is a long shot. But, so is the notion that 3.9 million Americans are even talking about this today. It’s being touted as the “incredible law” that can still stop Trump.

The Change.org petition is one of the fastest growing petitions since this all began part of the American conversation. But this petition is largely Democratic based. Fox News reports a grassroots drive is being launched called Faithless Now, and is specifically targeting Republicans to become faithless electors in Republican states that Donald Trump won on the electoral map by county and state for 2016.

The states targeted on the Faithless Now petition are Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia. These are all states that Donald Trump won on the electoral map, but some of them are swing states that could have faithless electors vote blue.

The Faithless Now petition is asking these states to change their vote from Donald Trump, to another Republican reports Fox. There are other states where faithless electors may not be penalized if they switch their vote and choose Hillary Clinton, who won the popular vote.

The Faithless Now petition reads as follows.

“On December 19th, 2016, the 538 Electors of the Electoral College will meet in their respective states and the District of Columbia to cast their votes for President and Vice President of the United States. If nothing out of the ordinary happens, a majority of them will vote Donald Trump for President, and our next President will be Donald Trump. But it does not have to happen this way. The Founding Fathers created the Electoral College, in part, as a check against the possibility the public might select a President unfit to execute the duties of the office, such as Donald Trump. “

The Faithless Now petition asks the electors to take Trump off of their ballots and replace him with the “non-Trump candidate of their choosing.” Their goal, rather than to put Hillary Clinton in the White House, is to tie the electoral college, “making it impossible for Clinton to win a vote in the House” and leaving it up to Congress to make the final call on who should be the forty-fifth President of the United States.

The petition further reads as follows.

“The only viable choices then would be Donald Trump and whichever Republican received the most votes from among faithless electors. It is entirely possible the House Republicans would choose the third candidate.”

The petition also offers contact information for the electors in the electoral college for some states, so that Americans can contact the electors personally and discuss the faithless elector situation one-on-one, before the electoral college goes to vote on December 19. Citizens that are contacting the electors in the electoral college are advised to plan a careful strategy before approaching an elector to be a faithless elector. Scripts and support are available on Twitter for the movement.

Fox News reports on an editorial in the Baltimore Sun this weekend that said the electoral college system was “convoluted and the product of an eighteenth century compromise forged over issues that no longer apply. It has not worked the way it was intended almost from the very beginning.”

The Baltimore Sun editorial is also saying that a ratification at the Congressional level to change the electoral college system permanently is not necessary. Baltimore Sun reports that 10 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws that leaves the electoral college system of the founders in place, but delivers the presidency to the popular vote winner.

As soon as the majority of states pass this, and the movement has already started, and the number of states electoral votes reach the magical number of 270, each of those will then be legally allowed to give their electoral votes to the national popular vote winner. It would abandon the current “winner take all” system of the 2016 electoral college map by county and state reports the Baltimore Sun.

Nebraska and Maine already have abandoned this system reports the Baltimore Sun, splitting their electoral college votes by the winner of the congressional districts. If this movement continues at the rate it is currently moving through the states, the electoral college system will work very differently in 2020. In the meantime, what is to become of the electoral college may by county and state in 2016, one of the most unprecedented election cycles of our time for so many reasons, remains to be seen until December 19.

[Feature Image by Otto Kitsinger/AP Images]

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